Tuesday, May 03, 2016

Alex & Freener

Several evenings ago I hosted a family dinner. Someone told a story about a missed opportunity (I can't remember the details). Without prompting, my eleven-year-old grandson, Lachlan, said, "Too late, I've done promised Freener!" My cousin, Lee, who was visiting from Virginia, looked at me with a quizzical eye.

It was an opportunity to share another Ocracoke Island story.

I had been told that in the late 1800s Ocracoke native, Alexander Garrish, fell in love with a young woman. When he asked for her hand in
marriage she
turned him down. She refused his offer several times, and he finally
quit asking. In the meanwhile, Epherena ("Freener") Fulcher had set her
sights on Alexander, and let him know she wanted to marry him. Alexander
put Freener off twice. The third time Alexander claimed he
had a toothache. Freener is reported to
have said, “Heat a brick and put it to his jaw.It’s now or never.”

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is Allie (Teenie) Scott's 1968 story of
Simon Garrish, Jr. and the US Life-Saving horse, Sambo. You can read it
by clicking here: www.villagecraftsmen.com/news042116.htm.

2 comments:

Hah! A brilliant story, and so great to see that island lore continues to pass from one generation to the next. It must be satisfying to know that your legacy already seems to be in competent hands. Thanks--as always--for sharing.

Who would imagine that an eleven year old boy would come up with a phrase spoken by a man who was the same age as Lachlan in 1869 (just 4 years after the civil war ended.)Must be the genes.I never met my great grandparents, so the picture was especially meaningful to me.Thank you for one more little leaf on my family tree..."We will meet again."